I know I'm late in responding, but..... here's how to fix your Windows
partition so that you do not have to low level your hard drive.
As a computer technician, if you brought your computer to me I would
probably wipe & reload your windows partition, which would save your Linux
partition. I have not done a low level hard drive (HDD) format since I was
in tech school--it isn't needed on IDE drives made in the last ten years; let
alone there are many reasons NOT to. If there is some reason to seriously
consider low leveling a drive, it would very likely be better to replace the
drive while information can still be pulled off it, rather than to lose all
the time and effort represented by the installing&configuring that's already
invested in it. The time and effort you've put into what's on the drive
(system, programs, and data) is the most valuable part of the computer!
If you were willing to try something on your own, I would advise you to
do the following [this is what I would do (and have done) for myself]:
[for the Windows partition, prior to seriously considering low-level HDD
format]
1) Back-up all, important, critical data on <
depending on what
tape CD floppy
< media you have avail.
2) Disable anti-virus, screen saver, power management (if active), etc.
<CTRL><ALT><DEL> (once only!) should show the following tasks active
on Win98 (others should be similar)
Explorer
Systray
Wsloader
[<CTRL><ESC> on Win3.1 shouldn't show anything (except program manager)]
3) [ I always liked to run "chkdsk" [ without the "" ] from DOS prior to
anything serious with a HDD. Boot to DOS or shutdown to DOS, not "shelled
out." Ignore the scandisk advisory. If there are any errors run "chkdsk /f"
to fix them, as a message will instruct. ]
4) "defrag" "thorough" the drive. If it hasn't been done in a long time
it may run 1.5 hr or longer. DO NOT STOP IT unless you are SURE it has hung.
If it does hang, reset everything and run it again. And again. And again.
Does it stop at the same place? Is it getting further each time? Is there
no pattern? In the latter case you should think seriously about buying a new
drive (this is the point I bought one for myself), though there are cables
and other things you might want to check first.
If defrag completes successfully but problems continue do a "refresh"
reload [SEE BOOT FLOPPY WARNING BELOW]. Boot from floppy and access the CD.
ChangeDirectory to \windows & run "setup" from there. This should maintain
you previous configuration, but you MAY still have to configure periperal
drivers (you DO have them on floppy don't you?). The exact results you get
will depend on exactly which version of Win95 (there are three, without
considering special versions for Compaq & other large computer makers) or
Win98 you are using. Refresh reloads can also be done with Win3.1.
If your refresh completes successfully but problems continue do a wipe
and reload. Boot from a floppy and format c: ... /u < unconditional (forced)
format [note that the format program must be on the floppy for this to work].
Then change to your CD and run "setup" from the root directory. You do not
need to CD to \windows.
BOOT FLOPPY WARNING >> BE SURE (and I mean to TEST IT FIRST!) that you
have a working boot floppy configured to access your CD ROM -- BEFORE --
you refresh or wipe & reload. Write protect it before you test it.
This should solve your problems. If it does, then go on to use
partition magic to create the additional space you want for Linux. If it
doesn't, think again about buying another drive.
-Gary-
On Wed, 14 Jun 2000, KompuKit wrote:
> I need to completely un-install win98...from off
> the first partition of my 8.4 gig Maxtor HD.
>
> there's two partitions...of equal parts...
>
> I'm buying the full version of Partition Magic..
> and after re-installing win98 (don't want to,hehehe)
> I'll install Partition Magic...simply because I need
> to resize my root partition...under linux so I can
> install the developement packages.
>
>
> I was told to low-level format, but if I did that....
> I would lose linux...and I worked to hard to get it like I want.
>
> will all this work...?
